Steer Town Academy principal, teacher to step down over CXC exam paper leak

Principal of Steer Town Academy in St Ann, Sharn Mangol, and exam coordinator, Andre Yeeshui, are to step down from their posts following a probe into a massive Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) examination fraud at the school.

Members of the school board last night voted to have both educators removed from the institution following a disciplinary hearing.

Another teacher, who was implicated in the cheating scandal, is to be demoted.

Travis Yeeshui was the head of the science and hospitality department as well as the grade 10 supervisor.

Mangol declined to make any comments when contacted by The Gleaner.

The three were found guilty in a scheme which involved the leaking of examination papers to several students in the 2022 May to June sitting of the (CXC) at the institution.

Their fates were decided by the board after the Overseas Examination Commission carried out an investigation amid a report of irregularities in the examination and recommended disciplinary action.

Several charges, including neglect of duty, were laid against the teachers.

One of the main witnesses in the matter had reportedly observed students making corrections to their examination papers after the examination.

The witness is also reported to have presented recordings at the hearing of the one of the guilty party calling her and asking her not to share any information with the investigators as well as voicenotes students asking them to bring in the examination papers.

Pictures of the exam papers that the witness had received a day before the exams were also presented.

In the meantime, reports have surfaced that parents are being rallied by a former president of the parent's teachers' association to protest the principal's removal.

However, a source close to the development said the parents are in the dark about the examination fraud that occurred at the school.

On May 22 last year, Brian Bennett-Easy, chairman of the Overseas Examination Commission, wrote to the chairman of the school board of the academy and Ministry of Education officials referring to reports received of widespread irregularities at that centre.

Some of the allegations were that some candidates had access to live question papers ahead of the examination and were allegedly coached by their teachers before they sat the examinations.

Some students were allegedly able to amend their scripts with the assistance of their teachers after the papers were administered.

“The performance in Mathematics, especially, was at a very high standard and was not in keeping with previous years' performance. Some of the same candidates who sat City & Guilds Mathematics did poorly but excelled in CSEC Mathematics,” Bennett-Easy was outlined in the letter.

Investigations were carried out into the report and subsequently, the three educators had disciplinary charges laid against them.

They are also accused of failing to store the June 2022 examination papers in the fireproof cabinet supplied to the school by the Overseas Examination Council.

- Tanesha Mundle 

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